Finished The Man in the Queue, by Josephine Tey. Her first Alan Grant mystery, and not really her best. But I did enjoy it, though not as much as her later ones.

Next up, an early Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself. I have been putting off this book for nearly a year, but it came well recommended and I think I'm going to have to give it a try.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I just read this book a few weeks ago, after also having put it off for a year or so. I enjoyed reading the First Law trilogy, I hope you enjoy it too!

Question for anyone who has read this book (and/or the series) -- does it stop with the torture stuff or does that continue. If it's going to continue, I'm going to dump it now. I really don't need this level of nastiness.

I enjoyed reading The Line with some reservations. It was a bit too much into 'romance' for my taste and also seemed to me to be somewhat predictable (with some reservations). As well it kinda' dragged along using a lot of filler till 3/4 of the way through it when then in Chapter 25 it hit me with a big reveal that I hadn't seen coming. Then it started to drag again till it hit me with another reveal!. So I have mixed feelings. Perhaps if it had been edited down to a novella I might have been happier with it? But despite these reservations/criticisms I still enjoyed reading it.

After Diana Rowland's story Dangerous Women was pretty uninteresting to me. I'd enjoyed the first few stories preceding Jim Butcher's (his entry was the real reason that I'd gotten this book, it was great) then after reading it I began reading the first parts of each story till I decided to skip that one and go on to the next one. Then I got to Diana Rowland's entry which was great. The rest of the book was more of, try it, skip it, and then go on to the next one till the end. Oh well!

Speaking of Diana Rowland, her new Kara Gillian book, Fury of the Demon (#6 in the series) was released today and I've begun reading it.

I'm also reading one of my Christmas presents - an omnibus of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic in graphic novel form. One of my sons got it for me, because it wasn't a book I'd rather have in electronic form!

Raising Steam was very good indeed. The graphic novel is quite fun so far, and I expect to enjoythe rest of it.

Question for anyone who has read this book (and/or the series) -- does it stop with the torture stuff or does that continue. If it's going to continue, I'm going to dump it now. I really don't need this level of nastiness.

One of the main characters is a torturer by trade so there is torture throughout the trilogy. Having said that, I believe the first instance is the worst and most descriptive. It's a good series, I would recommend you keep going and see if it gets more palatable (not the torture, the book itself ) before you stop.

I am finishing up Crown of Slaves, the first in the Manpower offshoots of Honor Harrington. Before I move onto Torch of Freedom I am going to catch up on my Star Wars and read Mercy Kill, the new X-Wing novel.

One of the main characters is a torturer by trade so there is torture throughout the trilogy. Having said that, I believe the first instance is the worst and most descriptive. It's a good series, I would recommend you keep going and see if it gets more palatable (not the torture, the book itself ) before you stop.

I'm really not enjoying this. I broke off to read some Georgette Heyer just to clean my palate. The book itself is well written, and I can see the appeal. But I really have no desire to spend my life reading about torture, brutality and gore. (Don't get me wrong - there's some MilSF I like quite a bit, such as the Empire of Man series. But gratuitous violence, torture, rape, and lingering gore are things I avoid.)

I finally got around to Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter.

Not bad so far, although I'm not getting the Second Doctor from the characterisation at all. I'm enjoying the plot well enough though and Jamie and Zoe seem a lot better fleshed out than the Doctor.

And done. "Not bad" just about sums up my feelings about this - no better and no worse than the average Doctor Who tie-in book, although I suppose I expected it rise above average.

The non-Who parts - especially everything to do with describing space and various spacecraft etc - were good, though, so I'm looking forward to reading some original science fiction by Baxter at some point.

I'm really not enjoying this. I broke off to read some Georgette Heyer just to clean my palate. The book itself is well written, and I can see the appeal. But I really have no desire to spend my life reading about torture, brutality and gore. (Don't get me wrong - there's some MilSF I like quite a bit, such as the Empire of Man series. But gratuitous violence, torture, rape, and lingering gore are things I avoid.)

It is not gratuitous. It is integrated and important for the whole trilogy.